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Inspire and Be Inspired - Wellington Toastmasters |
Division E International Speech Contest held in Wellington 10 April 2010 Inspire and Be Inspired! I had the opportunity to hear the speeches in the International Speech Contest last weekend and wanted to share the key themes and messages that each contestant selected to share with the audience. Each speaker held the audience in the palms of their hands throughout the story they told. Many of the nine speakers shared a story of an incident in their own life and displayed their raw emotions that indicated to the audience just how real the tale was they were telling. They kindly allowed us into a piece of their personal life and the theme threaded throughout these speeches was that of children and family. To follow are their inspiring key messages: Tony - “if you’re not having the time of your life every day have the courage to change”. Shona – “impossible is not a word, impossible is an excuse not to try”. Her three key tips are: - find your gift
- dream the big picture
- never give up
Darrell – his theme was “selfish kindness” and in order to gain selfish memories that last forever you need to meet three criteria: - the idea of kindness is your own
- the person receiving the kindness must not have asked for it
- you must not have thought of personal gain
Rob – “being older means doing fewer things for the first time”; “you can go timidly through life paralysed by fear or walk, run, dance through life with great satisfaction”. His three tips are: - take risks
- assess situations
- be prepared to suffer the consequences
Jacqui – “dig deep and do things differently”, “love is doing the small things even when you don’t want to”. Sophia – “talk to your family whenever you get the chance, pick up the phone and call them don’t just think about it”, “they are your clan, your tribe, your family”. Kinnie – “life is measured by moments that take your breath away, these are defining moments that show us who we are and how we live our life”, “life is a privilege not a ride”. Marty – “adults loose the ability to distinguish between things the way that babies and children do. Sounds, faces and languages. Babies and children absorb this information whereas adults can learn it”. Lyn – “neglect of our elderly is not rare, become the heroes for the helpless and advocate for the elderly”, “don’t allow quality care to become a far off dream”, “don’t allow empathy to become our epitaph”.
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